Hanging out in a tree, I should've known. That's her thing...she loves nature. That's probably why her name is Alkonost. Despite her loving trees and such, she wasn't acting like I remembered her. Everyone changes over time, but she seemed...off. "You coming down or do I have to come get you?" I asked, not looking forward to having to get her if I had to. "I'll come down I suppose..." she said. I watched her climb down. "What were you spying on me for? I mean, you could've said something." "I wasn't sure if it was you at first...it's been what, like ten thousand years?" I thought about it. It really had been about that long. "Well..." "Did I scare you?" she asked. "No way. Of all the demons down here, you're the least scary." But she wasn't the least attractive. In fact, she was arguably the MOST attractive. I gave her a once over. Long blond hair, purple eyes, a clear complexion, just the right amount of makeup, and a body to die for. She had changed a bit, but not by much. "Good to know some things stay the same." she said, looking at me. "Was it that obvious?" I asked. "Wipe your mouth, you're drooling." "Excuse me for taking notice." she seemed amused. "Still got that lustful streak after all those years. I thought it was all teen hormones." "You thought wrong." She laughed. "Well, you're even more easy on the eyes than you were last time I saw you..." she said. I acknowledged her comment with a little smile. "How have you been? What brings you up here?" "Fine, just living...up with humans and such." "Slow down a bit, what do you mean? You got the big H?" I nodded. "Wow. What's that like?" "Better than living down here." She seemed understanding. "How does everyone feel?" "Either hot or cold. Most are feeling a bit cold. I'm not well liked here." She frowned. "You're awfully hard to get along with sometimes. You always had a tendency to be sarcastic, callous, cynical,-" "I know. I still hold those tendencies close to my heart. It's got nothing to do with that. I left here so I'm kinda on that shunned status. There's only a few down here who accept me." She rolled her eyes. "How dumb. I'm one of them. Where you live is your business...and who you deal with is your business. God, these idiots are acting like you became a human because you hate demons so much...that's not even possible." "You're preaching to the choir, Nost. I know all of that-their loss." "You have to tell me more about living up there seeing as how I can't even travel up there. It sucks. I'm curious." "You can't travel between worlds? What's the matter, forget how to teleport?" "I'm not blood or fear...I'm a strange combination and I have to stay here." A combination. Whatever that meant. I took her word for it. "It's different, I'll tell you that much. It's bigger out there, brighter, things are structured differently, and yet it's all the same. The little changes are what make the big differences for me." She seemed satisfied with that answer. "What are people like?" "That's a loaded question. Most are wastes of life, others are pretty great." She got a strange look on her face. "Did you ever get married? I mean if you did, obviously everyone was wrong for teasing me all the time..." "No way. Not gonna, either. Fuck all of that." "Why?" "Because. I hate the idea." "Aw, you don't wanna fall in love?" "I fall in lust, and then I fall into bed with someone. That's it. I like it that way." she shrugged. "Gee, I was kinda hoping I'd bump into you and we'd get married..." What? I had no response. "Everyone teased me about marrying you, but they never realized I liked you. I would've happily married you had you asked. Sure I was the popular one and you were kinda...in the background, hence the teasing, but that never bothered me. I've always liked you." Again, I had no response. "I figured you wouldn't say anything." she said. "It's alright, I've moved on." I wished I could think of something to say, but my voice was gone. It wasn't her. She was beautiful, anyone would cut their own throat to be with someone who was half as great as she is, but...the idea of spending time with someone who had at some point wanted to marry me was new...and a bit unsettling, too for some reason. "Maybe someday." she said. "I am sure you'd have no trouble finding someone to marry you." I said. "I know I wouldn't. That's why I'm here. Too many creeps, too many proposals." I wasn't too shocked. "Well you don't have to worry about that with me." I said. "And that's bittersweet at best." I shuddered a bit, and hoped she didn't notice. Again, it wasn't her...it was the entire concept of tethering myself to someone else. No more doing what I wanted to do...no more doing WHO I wanted to do. The idea made me feel sick. "You never told me why you came up here looking for me." she said, interrupting my thoughts. "I heard something about you being up here...I thought it was weird, so I came looking to see if you were okay." She melted. "That's sweet." she said. "Aren't friends supposed to do that sort of thing?" She nodded. "Alright, so it's a civic duty or something." She rolled her eyes. "You hate compliments, don't you?" "Someone as vain as me can't possibly hate compliments, I just hate being called kind and sweet. It makes my skin crawl." She put her lips near my ear. "You're sweet." she whispered in her breathiest, sing-song voice. My skin crawled alright, but for a different reason. Once the goosebumps settled, we resumed our conversation. "So do you come here often?" "Nah, just when I have to." I replied. "I usually don't even go anywhere outside of where I grew up. What's the point? Last time I walked down the street, someone threw a knife at me." "All over you living with humans?" I nodded. "Luckily, they threw like someone with no arms, so they missed, but had they hit me..." I trailed off. "You would've been fine." "They wouldn't have though." "So tough." she mocked. "Please, you don't know the half of it." "I've missed having company up here." she said, looking at the trees. "How long have you been here?" she laughed. "When's the last time we saw each other?" "Ten thousand years? Something like that." "Alright, so about that long." I was surprised. "That's a long time to spend up here, Alkonost. I'm sure you're lonely." She looked away. "Lonely isn't the right word. I think I'm bored more than anything else." She looked at the sky. "I think we should go to my place." I followed her gaze. "One cloud and you wanna go home?" I asked. "It's one for now, but in just a few minutes, it'll storm." I was skeptical. "Trust me, Arioch. I've lived up here for a long time now...that's a storm cloud." I wasn't so sure. "If you say so." I replied, following her to her home. "A cave? Really, Alkonost?" "Oh, and where do you live? A cardboard box?" "No...I live in a penthouse." She looked skeptical. "Humans don't mind demons living with them like that?" "They don't know I'm not human, dumb ass." She looked at me strangely. "What? Why?" "You can't tell them that! You really are different, aren't you?" She rolled her eyes. "So sorry for not knowing the social norms of humans and demons when they live together. I think you'll find that my cave is actually pretty nice." I held in a laugh and looked away. "Don't even." she said. I followed her into her home just in time to avoid getting soaked by rain. She smirked at me. "Alright, so you're a regular meteorologist." I said. "The best." she replied. She was right, her home was really nice. "I spent thousands of years converting it." she said. "It's secluded." my voice echoed a bit. "That's why I like it. You're the first to ever be in here. Enjoy your stay." I felt like my stay would end up being worth my while...
